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Clarifai Zapier integrationAutomate Clarifai with Zapier.

The Clarifai Zapier integration offers 5 actions, no trigger and no search. Clarifai never starts a Zap: another app does, then Clarifai reads the text in an image, names what it shows, screens it for unsafe content or scores a piece of text.

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Overview

What the Clarifai Zapier integration actually does

It lets a Zap hand an image link or a piece of text to Clarifai and get an answer back that the next steps can use. Clarifai only works as an action here: something in another app has to start the Zap, then Clarifai does the reading and passes its answer down the line.

Three things people build with it. Receipts turned into text: a photo link arrives, Image OCR pulls out the English words in it, and the next step files them where your bookkeeping lives. Uploads screened before they go public: Detect NSFW checks each image a visitor sends, so a person only reviews the ones that need it. Product photos described automatically: Recognize Image names the objects in a picture, which saves you from labeling a catalogue by hand. On the text side, Classify Text reads the sentiment concepts in a message, and Add Input pushes an image into your Clarifai application.

Now the limits, before you plan around them. Clarifai has no trigger, so it can never start a Zap by itself: no event inside Clarifai can set anything off. There is no search either. Every action works from a link or a text you pass in For Add Input, the input URL has to be publicly accessible. Image OCR is described as recognizing English text, and nothing more is said about other languages.

Since every Clarifai Zap starts in another app, a two-step Zap is the most the free plan allows. If you also look at the Clarifai Make integration, you can compare it with the Make side.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words you will see on every Zapier screen, explained once in plain English.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. With Clarifai, the trigger always comes from another app you use.
Action
What the Zap does once started: the step that writes, sends or analyses something for you. All five Clarifai steps are actions.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action completed successfully. Your plan's monthly count is a count of those.
Polling trigger
A trigger Zapier checks on a timer, asking the app for new items and keeping only what it has not seen yet.
Instant trigger
A trigger the app reports itself, the moment the event happens. Which kind you get depends on the app that starts your Zap.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap go on only when what arrived matches your condition, and stops it there otherwise.
Multi-step Zap
Any Zap with more than one trigger and one action. A second action or a filter makes one, and that needs a paid plan.
Cost

What a Clarifai Zap really costs

Each Clarifai step that completes successfully counts as one task. The trigger, in the other app, never costs anything, and a step that fails is not counted.

  • Each Clarifai action that works1 task
  • Trigger in the other appFree
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps
  • Premium appNo, Clarifai works on the free plan

Clarifai is not a premium app, so it runs on the free plan: 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The catch is shape. The free plan builds two-step Zaps only, one trigger and one action. Reading a receipt and then saving the text somewhere is already three steps, so it is a multi-step Zap and needs a paid plan. The same goes for a filter. How fast the Zap starts depends on the trigger of the other app, not on Clarifai.

Connect

Connect your Clarifai account to Zapier

  1. 01

    Start from the Apps page

    In Zapier, open Apps and click + Add connection. A connection is your Clarifai account linked once, then reused by every Clarifai step in every Zap you build.

  2. 02

    Find Clarifai

    Search for Clarifai by name in the dialog, pick it from the results and click Add connection. A new tab opens on the Clarifai side so you can sign in.

  3. 03

    Sign in and allow access

    Log in with the Clarifai account that holds your application and grant Zapier access. If the application belongs to a colleague, your account needs read or write rights on it first.

First Zap

Your first Zap: receipt photos turned into spreadsheet rows

GoalWhen someone sends a receipt photo through your form, read the text in it and add it as a new row.

  1. 01

    Build: pick the trigger

    Create a Zap and choose your form tool with its new-response event. Connect the account and test it: Zapier brings back the three most recent responses, so you can pick one that carries a photo link.

  2. 02

    Add Image OCR

    Add Clarifai as the action app and choose Image OCR. Map the photo link from the form into the image URL. Keep in mind it reads English text.

  3. 03

    Test the reading

    Run the step test and read what came back. If nothing useful comes back, check the image URL you mapped actually points to the photo.

  4. 04

    Add the row

    Add your spreadsheet as a third step and map the text Clarifai returned into a column. Three steps make this a multi-step Zap, so it needs a paid plan.

  5. 05

    Publish

    Test the last step, check the row in your sheet, then click Publish. From now on each new response goes through on its own.

Actions

Clarifai actions on Zapier

Clarifai gives you 5 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Add Input

Action

In Zapier“Adds an input to the application”

Sends an image into your Clarifai application from a link, so it sits there with the rest of your inputs. Zapier is highlighting this action on the app page.

When to use it
every photo your team uploads elsewhere should also land in Clarifai, ready for later work.
Watch out
the input URL must be public; a private link fails.
2

Classify Text

Action

In Zapier“Detects sentiment concepts contained in text”

Takes a piece of text and detects the sentiment concepts it contains. A quick read on how a message feels, done before anyone opens it.

When to use it
support tickets or reviews come in and you want each one scored before it is routed.
Watch out
the text field is required, so map it to a field of the trigger that is always filled.
3

Image OCR

Action

In Zapier“Recognizes English text in the image”

Reads the written words inside an image and gives them back as text you can store or reuse. Useful for anything photographed instead of typed.

When to use it
expense receipts or delivery notes arrive as photos and the text should end up in a table.
Watch out
Clarifai describes it as recognizing English text; it says nothing about other languages.
4

Detect NSFW

Action

In Zapier“Detects if image is NSFW content”

Checks whether an image is unsafe for work, and hands that verdict to the steps after it. A first line of moderation before anything is shown to the public.

When to use it
a community site receives photos from visitors and wants a check before someone reviews them.
Watch out
acting on the result, such as alerting a moderator, needs another step, hence a paid plan.
5

Recognize Image

Action

In Zapier“Recognizes objects in the image”

Looks at a picture and tells you which objects it sees, so the next step can tag, sort or describe the image without a human glancing at it.

When to use it
a shop owner wants product photos labeled before they are filed.
Watch out
the image URL is required, so map it to a field of the trigger that always carries a link.
When it breaks

When a Clarifai Zap breaks

Zapier lists no limit of its own for Clarifai. It does attach one help article, How to get started with Clarifai on Zapier.

Beyond that, Clarifai Zaps break in the ways every Zap can, plus one specific to links. When you need a hand, the Zapier troubleshooting page is the place to go.

  • The input link is not public

    Add Input needs a publicly accessible URL. A link behind a login or a private share does not meet that, and an action that does not go through costs no task.

  • Old files are never processed

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after it is switched on. Images uploaded before that stay unread; processing the backlog is a separate job.

  • A bulk upload is held back

    If the starting app suddenly returns a huge batch, after an import for example, Zapier's flood protection can hold those items back.

  • The same file never runs twice

    On a polling trigger, Zapier remembers what it has already seen, so the same item does not start the Zap a second time.
Need help

Need help automating Clarifai with Zapier?

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FAQ

Clarifai Zapier integration: frequent questions

01Is the Clarifai Zapier integration free?
Yes, within the free plan's limits. Clarifai is not a premium app, so the free Zapier plan accepts it, with 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The limit is the shape of the Zap: the free plan builds two steps, one trigger and one action. Since Clarifai has no trigger, your two steps are the starting app and one Clarifai action. Saving the result somewhere, or adding a filter, makes the Zap multi-step and requires a paid plan.
02How many tasks does a Clarifai Zap use?
One task for each Clarifai action that completes successfully. The trigger in the other app costs nothing, however often Zapier checks it. A Zap that reads a receipt with Image OCR and then writes a spreadsheet row uses two tasks per receipt, one for each successful action. An action that does not go through, for example Add Input on a private link, is not counted against your plan, and neither is the check of the trigger itself.
03Does a Clarifai Zap run in real time?
That depends entirely on the app that starts it, because Clarifai has no trigger of its own. If the starting app has an instant trigger, it tells Zapier the moment something happens and the Clarifai step follows straight away. If it has a polling trigger, Zapier checks on a timer: every 15 minutes on the free plan, every 2 minutes on Professional, every minute on Team and Enterprise. Check the trigger of your starting app.
04What does it take to connect Clarifai to Zapier?
A Clarifai account and a Zapier account. You add the connection from the Apps page, search for Clarifai, sign in on the tab that opens and grant access. If the Clarifai application you want to use belongs to someone else, your account needs read or write access to it beforehand. After that, each action asks for an image URL or a text, which the starting app provides, so pick a trigger that carries one.
05Why does Clarifai return nothing for an image?
First check the link you mapped. Every image action works from a URL, and Add Input explicitly needs a publicly accessible one, so a file in a private folder or behind a login does not meet that requirement. Run the step test and read what came back before publishing, because the test uses one of the three most recent items of your starting app. For Image OCR, also remember that Clarifai describes it as recognizing English text and says nothing about other languages.
06What if the Clarifai operation you need is missing?
Then Zapier cannot run it for Clarifai today. The integration offers five actions only: Add Input, Recognize Image, Detect NSFW, Image OCR and Classify Text. There is no trigger, so nothing in Clarifai can start a Zap, and no search to look up something already stored. If your process needs a step outside that list, it has to happen in Clarifai directly or through another way of connecting it. Check the list in the Zap editor before you design the flow around a step that is not there.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Clarifai?
It depends on your criteria, not on a fixed winner. On Zapier, Clarifai runs on the free plan, but a useful flow (receive an image, analyse it, store the result) is three steps and needs a paid plan. If the Zap stays simple and your team already works in Zapier, that is fine. If you plan many steps or high volumes, compare what Make and n8n offer for Clarifai before you choose.
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